Panasonic To End Plasma TV Production in 2014

Panasonic announced last week that they will ending production of their line of plasma TVs by March 2014. The move by the consumer electronics company is said to be due to rapidly dwindling demand for plasma technology, with consumers instead preferring LCD and LED screens. The emergence of OLED 4K technology, which made its major debut at the Consumer Electronics Show this past January, was the final death blow for plasma screens.

Sales of televisions have been flat for the past few years as HD-compatible units have saturated the market. 3D TV failed to capture any significant market share and is likely to be shelved for the significant future, especially given the closure of the only main 3D channel, ESPN 3D. Still, despite the recent flat sales of TVs, the trend was far worse for plasma screens than LCDs. In the past year sales of plasma TVs fell 23 percent, while sales of LCD TVs fell just 1 percent.

Panasonic saw these trends and decided it would be a better business decision to end production of plasma screens in favor of LCD, LED, and brand new OLED 4K technology.